Get all 70 miscellaneous owl releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of you are the light that casts a shadow, Blind Spot, Sink or Swim, little fires, Skyway, Mother's Day, the engine of more, tracing paper (covers vol. 1), and 62 more.
1. |
Luxury Bones
02:57
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When we were in second grade
They asked us what we wanted to be
I never thought that I would say
An insurance actuary
But there's no market for
A hundred thousand ballerinas
A hundred thousand quarterbacks
Filling endless sports arenas
So wind up working for the man
Find a job with a dental plan
If you're lucky, you get to keep those luxury bones
Taking classes at the night school
Looking up what it takes to be
A medical coding specialist
Or an actuary
And wind up working for the man
Find a job with a dental plan
If you're lucky, you get to keep those luxury bones
Every day, every day you get to solve somebody else's problems
Every day, every day
Every day, every day endless figures fill the columns
Every day, every day
When you calculate the odds
Of your chances of getting to go to space
They frankly don't seem very good
But what does that matter, anyway?
You have a job that pays you well now
And there's no room for dreamers
You know what your life will look like
You were always good with numbers
So wind up working for the man
Find a job with a dental plan
If you're lucky, you get to keep those luxury bones
Vision and retirement
Cash for death or dismemberment
If you're lucky, you get to keep those luxury bones
If you're lucky, you get to keep your luxury bones
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2. |
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Isn't this always how it goes
When you know
You're gonna be alone?
Even the dog's afraid you'll bite
With your knuckles white
Does it keep you up at night?
Emily, I'm scared
I don't want to feel this way forever
Help me
When you're not there
I don't matter
Help me
Emily, Emily, I'm scared
Help me not care
Gripping a match
About to strike it
And then I stop
Oh, I'm all clouds and stormy weather
A burst of bloody feathers
Scattered in the parking lot
Emily, I'm scared
I don't want to feel this way forever
Help me
When you're not there
I don't matter
Help me
Emily, Emily, I'm scared
Help me not care
Emily, I'm scared
I don't want to feel this way forever
Help me
When you're not there
I don't matter
Help me
Emily, Emily, I'm scared
Help me not care
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3. |
Bluebells
03:12
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You took me to the International Speedway
So we could watch the cars go by
You and I
But the thing about that
Is they go by much too fast
Just a second to see them pass
And then they're racing round back to the beginning
Bluebells grow
Pushing up through the snow
Like some kind of symbol or whatever
When you said that I
just wasn't your type
I thought I would die
but nothing lasts forever
At the second-hand market we bought some books
And you gave me that look
And that was all it took
Yeah I'm falling again
Even though we're just friends
Just like you knew I would
Arthur Lee
Falls in love too easily
But he says it could be with anyone
But my feelings aren't fungible
I'm just wishing for one little sign
That you've changed your mind
Give me something tangible
Say you love me
Underneath the bleachers at the baseball game
You whispered my name
And you said you felt the same
And my body was filled
With popcorn and butterflies
I had tears in my eyes
I dropped my hot dog in the dirt
After all that heartbreak
Everything's been moving towards this
The world's been waiting for our kiss
Will it be worth all that hurt?
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4. |
Forevertron
03:01
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Queen Victoria and Prince Albert may observe the launching of Dr. Evermor
it includes a giant telescope where skeptics may supervise the ascent
Feathers of rust
Flowers of aluminum
Testify to Wisconsin's glory
Magnetic attraction
Riveting action
Testify to Wisconsin's glory
Testify to Wisconsin's glory
Testify to Dr. Evermor's glory
Let's ride into the heavens on a magnetic lightning force beam
The Bird Band and Orchestra will play us all "Beautiful Dreamer"
Feathers of rust
Flowers of aluminum
Testify to Wisconsin's glory
Magnetic attraction
Riveting action
Testify to Wisconsin's glory
Testify to Wisconsin's glory
Testify to Dr. Evermor's glory
The Celestial Listening Ears await your transmission
The Gravitron prepares your body for ascension
Feathers of rust
Flowers of aluminum
Testify to Wisconsin's glory
Magnetic attraction
Riveting action
Testify to Wisconsin's glory
Testify to Wisconsin's glory
Feathers of rust and flowers of aluminum
Testify to Wisconsin's glory
Prince Albert and Queen Victoria
May observe the launch
Testify to Dr. Evermor's glory
Testify to Dr. Evermor's glory
All hail the Forevertron
All hail the Forevertron
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5. |
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I've been waiting
I've been waiting
I've been waiting such a long time
In the mountains, I thought I saw your face
And I followed you to the seashore at moonrise
Turn your back to me
Wanderer above the sea of fog
Turn your back to me
Wanderer above the sea of fog
In the Arctic, I sailed a sea of ice
The ship splintered in your indifference
I've been waiting
I've been waiting
I've been waiting such a long time
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6. |
Strike Me Down
03:30
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I'm in the hall for the baggage claim
Scanning the bags for the one with the tag with my name
What they said was a slight delay
Turned into eternity trapped in my seat on the plane
But I've got to make it home by Sunday
And if I don't, please tell my daughter I'm sorry
I'm sorry
"Promise me that you'll be home for my birthday
You missed last year when your company sent you away"
"God strike me down if I tell a lie
I promise you that I'll be home with plenty of time"
Took off at night
Turbulent flight
Watching the lightning strike
We plunged through the clouds
The noise was so loud
But we came out alright
I just don't remember the landing
The man beside me picks up his suitcase
And the woman in yellow finds her cello at last
Finally my bag slides down the carousel
It's heavier than I remember it back when I packed
The customs form asks me to list the times that I've hurt someone
They've changed it a bit, I guess, since the last time I flew
They weigh my bag on the scales against the feather
And the man with the head of a jackal waves me on through
But I tell them I can't go on through the door that they're showing me
I tell them I can't go on
I tell them I can't go on
Because I've got to make it home by Sunday
And if I don't, please tell my daughter I'm sorry
I'm sorry
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7. |
Mud Is a Memory
02:17
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The wells dried up slowly
At first it was only on Sundays
That they asked us to ration the water
And then they assigned us an hour
To open the taps
I run down the empty riverbed
Scatter the bones of fish long dead
Where mud is a memory, mud is a memory
Dry stems fill empty fields
This was the last one
Won't get fooled by the next one
Won't get fooled by the next one
They closed down the highways
But the tanks went on rolling
Past the empty gas stations
Great clouds
Billow through hot white skies
The dust begins to rise
The wind whips grit into my eyes
But I can't waste water on crying
Planes once traced their paths through air
And now there's nothing there
Flight is a memory, flight is a memory
We'll never get away from here
They said there'd always be a little more time
Reserves to tap with a high-tech pipeline
Now mud is a memory
Freedom's a memory
Hunger has drained out the blood of a century
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8. |
Hook and Tumble
02:43
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The lilies come
Like an invasion
At first a few
And then a thousand
Their thick perfume
Licks the doorways
Gold pollen dust
Stains you always
I gave you nothing from my life
I gave you everything
Opened my heart with a surgeon's bloody saw
To give you poetry, to give you anything at all
The dog doesn't know
That she's dead
He keeps on waiting
By the bed
The vultures circle
The vultures peck
They suck the sorrow
From my bleeding neck
I gave you nothing from my life
I gave you everything
Opened my heart with a surgeon's bloody saw
To give you poetry, to give you anything at all
I've been eating all the oranges
The kind she loved when she was alive
I've been following her ghost
Up and down the Massachusetts turnpike
I unspooled our story
Turn by excruciating turn
Pulled the poem out without breaking it
Like a Guinea worm
Something beautiful, something meaningful
I want to leave something good behind
I'd give it all up for one day with her
I just want to go back to when we had time
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9. |
Hari-Kuyo
03:29
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Hard freeze
Slow thaw
The ice ripped the tiles off the wall
Knife slice
Raw wound
Silence splashes ink across the moon
And I give thanks to all the needles and pins
All the little broken things that taught me how to grieve an ending
They held my seams together for so long
Moth wings
Cold star
I learned how to play the guitar
That's all
Just this
Living in the distance between what should be and what is
And I give thanks to all the needles and pins
All the little broken things that taught me how to grieve an ending
They held my seams together for so long
The needle snaps against the throat
Before it breaks, it makes a hole
And bit by bit, I stitch my days together
Sharp ends of the wild light
That flares up in my eyes at night
And pulls the thread from barely there to better
And bit by bit, I stitch myself together
Yeah, bit by bit, I stitch myself together
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10. |
Night Song
03:08
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(You're only lonely till you fall asleep)
I swam up to the moon through a sea of stars
And I opened the window so I could hear the cars
The bridge cut the light into flashes and flares
And my parents' voices hummed through the dark
I remember thinking we could be anywhere
At my right hand, Ursa, the bear
My feet cold in the San Francisco Bay
And Orion's belt bright in my hair
The moon leaned forward as if to say
Come to me, sing to me
The moon leaned forward as if to say
Come to me, sing to me
And the glow dissolved into edges and shapes
The stars gave way to landscapes
And as my eyes adjusted, the pale moon became
The face of my mother as she tucked me in
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miscellaneous owl Madison, Wisconsin
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